Improvements in telecommunications systems have resulted in the ability to transmit voice and/or data signals along transmission lines at increasingly higher frequencies. Several industry standards that specify multiple performance levels of twisted-pair cabling components have been established. The primary references, considered by many to be the international benchmarks for commercially based telecommunications components and installations, are standards ANSI/TIA/EIA-568-A (/568) Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard and 150/IEC 11801 (/11801), generic cabling for customer premises. The standards provide for differing levels of performance, and have been assigned to differing categories. For example, Category 3, 4 and 5 cable and connecting hardware are specified in both /568 and /11801, as well as other national and regional specifications. In these specifications, transmission requirements for Category 3 components are specified up to 16 MHZ. Transmission requirements for Category 4 components are specified up to 20 MHZ. Transmission requirements for Category 5 components are specified up to 100 MHZ. Category 5e standards have been adopted and Category 6 standards will be published in the new future.
The above referenced transmission requirements specify limits on near-end crosstalk (NEXT). Under TIA 568A, the contacts in a telecommunications plug are numbered sequentially 1-8 and are arranged in pairs represented by contacts 1-2, 3-6, 4-5 and 7-8. The TIA standards establish limits on pair-to-pair crosstalk for both category 5e and category 6.
Manufacturers of telecommunications connectors such as plugs and outlets are faced with the task of testing telecommunications connectors to meet standards such as category 5e and category 6. For example, outlets must be tested with plugs having various NEXT levels so that performance of the outlet is confirmed across the spectrum of category 5e and category 6 components. Unfortunately, providing test plugs with NEXT values across the category 5e and category 6 spectrum currently requires numerous test plugs and is time consuming.
Test plugs are currently terminated using a number of wires that enter a plug housing and are terminated at insulation displacement contacts (IDCs). The wires are originally arranged in twisted pairs, untwisted and routed into the plug. The untwisting causes variability between test plugs and is difficult to control. The particular arrangement of the wires after untwisting creates difference in NEXT values between pairs and thus makes it difficult and time consuming to produce test plugs having specific NEXT values between pairs. Given these difficulties, as many as 18 different test plugs may be needed to establish the needed NEXT values between pairs for testing both category 5e and category 6.